Republicans in the United States Senate blocked a debate yesterday on sweeping election reform legislation proposed by Democrats and backed by President Joe Biden.
This move has now set the stage for a confrontation between the two top political parties over US election.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had brought the legislation titled For the People Act to the Senate for debate, a move that would require no fewer than 60 senators to agree (2-3). Republicans, however, who control 50 of 100 Senate seats choose to line up against the legislation. All 50 Republicans voted against the opening debate in a glaringly partisan manner.
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‘They don’t even want to debate it, don’t even want to debate it because they’re afraid,‘ railed Schumer in Senate floor remarks before the vote.
‘They want to deny the right to vote, make it harder to vote for so many Americans. And they don’t want to talk about it, sweep it under the rug and hope that Americans don’t hear about it,’ Schumer said.
After the final tally Tuesday evening, he said Republicans had cast their ballots in support of ‘the big lie’ – the false claims by former President Donald Trump – that there had been widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
‘This vote, I’m ashamed to say is further evidence that voter suppression has become part of the official platform of the Republican Party’ he said.
Schumer lauded that for the first time in this session that all 50 Democrats in the Senate had voted together, in favour of the reforms and that they would continue.
‘The fight for voting rights is not over,’ he said.
Africa Today News, New York understands that the ‘For the People Act’ would have required all US states to implement automatic voter registration, offer voting by mail, and deploy new voting machines among other reforms.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK